Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, PRIVACY NEWS: Firms that don’t protect consumer data risk liability, Ramirez stresses, (Jan 28, 2015)

By Lynn Stanton,TRDaily

Speaking at the State of the Net conference yesterday in Washington, D.C., FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez emphasized that companies that don’t adequately secure data collected from consumers put themselves, as well as consumers, at risk.

“It’s not always true that more data is always better,” said Chairwoman Ramirez. “[C]ollecting data you don’t really need exposes you to unnecessary risk” of responsibility for breaches.

Noting that the FTC was releasing its report on the Internet of things, Ramirez emphasized that privacy and security issues related to the Internet of things are complicated by the small size of devices, which may have no screen or other user interface to provide privacy notices, and which may be low-cost or even disposable, making the economics and logistics of security and patches problematic.

Asked what the FTC can do about its privacy concerns related to data brokers, absent the legislation it recommended Congress adopt last year, the Chairwoman said that the agency can use its existing enforcement authority under section 5 of the FTC Act. “We’re going to continue to advocate to data brokers … and to companies that sell to data brokers” to adopt good practices with respect to data privacy, she concluded.

News: ConsumerProtection Privacy FederalTradeCommissionNews